David Sparkes complained that "next Chinese diving superstar will not have such distractions from training"

ITV have joined forces with Tom Daley's mum Debbie to blast British Swimming boss David Sparkes for criticising the Olympic medallist.

British Swimming chief executive Mr Sparkes this week slammed Daley's decision to appear on ITV's Saturday night diving show Splash! by saying the 18-year-old should have waited until the end of his competitive career.

"You can rest assured the next Chinese diving superstar will not have such distractions from training," Sparkes said.

However, Daley's mum Debbie has published an open letter telling Sparkes: "I find it incredible that you want to criticise him so publicly, when he does so much for your organisation and for sport in the UK.

"As far as I'm aware, Tom was one of the few major success stories for British Swimming this summer... and possibly one of the athletes that helped you retain your job.

"Others say that your performance was the worst of any CEO in British sport. Surely you should be thanking Tom and showing your support and gratitude?"

And this afternoon ITV released a statement confirming that Mr Sparkes' fears were unfounded.

The channel also denied Tom's training had been affected in any way.

An ITV spokesman said: “The beauty of a programme about diving is that Tom has been able to train alongside making the show.

"Tom is very much in full training for the upcoming Nationals.

“It has been easy to minimise any impact on training because of the mentoring taking place in Plymouth so it is only the shows on a Saturday that effect things and this is a down day for him.”